July, 1937
Tom
the derailleur made a belated return to the Tour de France after a 25-
year absence. While derailleurs ruled in France, across the Channel
there was a completely different type of multi-gearing system that had
been in use for over 40 years. These two approaches to multi-gearing
had a unique meeting in the same competitions under the same rules
just before WWII, with results that will surprise modern riders.
Unlike France, in the UK there was little massed start racing in those
days. Cycle sport was by-and-large time trialing and point-to-point
records, and because of its length and variation of terrain and
weather, the Land's End to John O'Groats record was the ne plus ultra
event. Cyclists began tackling the big ride in the 1880s, and the
Road Record Association was formed in 1888 to lay down rules for
comparison and to document results. The RRA's rules contained little
in the way of equipment limitations.
Fast-forward to the 1930s and a dynamic time in British cycling. Time/
distance and point-to point records, long the domain of athletic
competition, proved to be an excellent vehicle for commercial
promotion. The derailleur had been re-introduced early in the decade
after spending some 3 decades exiled to France, and was challenging
the ubiquitous Sturmey Archer internal-gear hub for the enthusiasts'
market. Derailleur importers, using the services of some of the best
Commonwealth riders, began to have records set using their equipment.
When world-famous Australian Hubert "Oppy" Opperman took the End-to-
End record using a four-speed Cyclo derailleur in 1935 it was the
final straw for the men in Nottingham.
Jared Diamond wrote about having just the right amount of competition
for progress. Sturmey-Archer had experienced less-than optimum
competition since the Great War, and these imported derailleurs
prompted them to begin to innovate for the first time in over a
decade. It also prompted parent company Raleigh to assemble a team of
top British cyclists to test, prove - and market - these innovations
on the road.
In 1936 Raleigh retained Charlie Holland, who had ridden on the U.K.
Olympic team in Los Angeles and Berlin, to ride for them. They were
rewarded when he won the inaugural massed start Isle of Man
International Road Race on a Raleigh bike with Sturmey-Archer gears.
In 1937 Holland moved on to the continent and was the first British
rider in the Tour de France (using that year's famous derailleurs, and
with a result of DNF-mechanical). Back home, the torch was passed to
Sid Ferris.
Sid Ferris came from a cycling family. His brother, H.E.G. "Harry"
Ferris, set a number of time/distance records on three wheel cycles
and later ran a bespoke cycle shop offering silver brazed frames.
Sibling Sid didn't really look the part of a lean and hard cycle
racer; he was quick with a big smile and, oddly for a speed and
distance man, had rather boyish cheeks. On the bike, period photos
show Sid arched over his Lauterwasser bars somewhat asymmetrically,
with his head turned to the left and his right shoulder a bit low. He
had only one eye, and wore an eye patch on the left.
Lean and hard he was, however, and while some of Raleigh's other long
distance men had used a medium range or even a wide range hub, Sid
rode across the hills, moors and highlands using S-A's new ultra-
narrow range (+7.2%, -6.8%) AR three-speed. During the long summer
days of 1937 he toppled all the RRA's premier records that had been
recently set on derailleur machines: Edinburgh-London, 24hrs and 1000
miles. That July he rode the 870 miles from Land's End to John
O'Groats in 54.5 hours*, besting Oppy's mark by two and a half hours
and setting a record that would stand for a remarkable 21 more
years.
While other British riders would continue to race time trials and set
time/distance records using internal-gear hubs into the 1960s, Ferris'
ride would be the last time a rider using Sturmey-Archer gears would
lower the End-to-End record. The door opened on WWII and closed on
Sturmey-Archer's most impressive period of innovation, and their
failure afterwards to keep pace with the ever-evolving derailleur
would result in history being rewritten and the remarkable competition
of the 1930s to be forgotten. Of all the records set using that
company's hub gears in the 1930s, only Tommy Godwin's year mileage
total (75,056 miles, 1939, Raleigh bicycle with Sturmey Archer AF hub,
besting Ossie Nicholson's 62,856 miles on a Cyclo derailleur equipped
Malvern Star, 1937) has never been bettered by a rider using
derailleur gearing.
Tom Shaddox
*16.0mph average. For reference, Hubert Opperman won the 726 mile
1931 Paris-Brest Paris at a 14.7mph average.
Mark Stonich
Thank you very much for posting this.
At 6/28/2007 09:05 PM -0700, Tom Shaddox wrote:
>While other British riders would continue to race time trials and set
>time/distance records using internal-gear hubs into the 1960s,
Many of these '60s city to city records were set on Moultons, and
stood for many years.
> Ferris'
>ride would be the last time a rider using Sturmey-Archer gears would
>lower the End-to-End record. The door opened on WWII and closed on
>Sturmey-Archer's most impressive period of innovation, and their
>failure afterwards to keep pace with the ever-evolving derailleur
>would result in history being rewritten and the remarkable competition
>of the 1930s to be forgotten. Of all the records set using that
>company's hub gears in the 1930s, only Tommy Godwin's year mileage
>total (75,056 miles, 1939, Raleigh bicycle with Sturmey Archer AF hub,
>besting Ossie Nicholson's 62,856 miles on a Cyclo derailleur equipped
>Malvern Star, 1937) has never been bettered by a rider using
>derailleur gearing.
If anyone is wondering why that record still stands, 75,056 / 365 =
205.633. If I ever did a double century I wouldn't be able to get
out of bed the next day. This guy did more than one, every day, rain
or shine, for a year. I'd love to find out more about this feat,
especially the logistics.
I'm curious if he did it all on one hub or if the internals (or
complete wheels) were replaced a few times.
Mark Stonich;
BikeSmith Design & Fabrication
5349 Elliot Ave S. - Minneapolis. MN 55417
Ph. (612) 824-2372 http://bikesmithdesign.com
http://mnhpva.org
Shirt-Tail Organiser
http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&Itemid=7
Jon